Damian Rolls! Mark Malaska! Matt Diaz! D-Rays fever...Catch It!
Seriously, the Rays have some hope for the future. Ownership has promised LaMar and Piniella a payroll increase for next season, although they have refused to commit to a figure. Still, that ought to allow Tampa Bay to substantially improve their team, since the salaries of Ben Grieve, Rey Ordonez and Greg Vaughn -- finally -- come off the books. Piniella's happy with his young nucleus, which he recently described as Rocco Baldelli, Aubrey Huff, Carl Crawford, Antonio Perez and Toby Hall. Going forward, there is at least the makings of respectability here.
Back to the present, the Jays face a team this week that's been hitting well, but pitching poorly. It won't be easy, but the Jays have an opportunity to add three more W's this week. (And they duck their inexplicable nemesis, Joe Kennedy.)
On to the Advance Scout!
* Tampa Bay is 11-12 in July, and if they (unthinkably, of course) pull off a sweep at SkyDome, they'll have their first winning month since September of '01 ... "It would be huge to finish July with a winning record," said Rocco Baldelli this weekend ... A lot of luck is involved, though: After going 0-9 in June one-run games, Tampa Bay is 6-2 in July under those circumstances ...
* It seems like the Jays always struggle against Tampa Bay, and they're 2-4 this year ... But believe it or not, the Rays have never taken the season series, largely because of their 14-27 record all-time in Toronto ...
* The Devil Rays recorded a club-record 21 hits in Thursday's 15-9 pounding of the Red Sox ...
* As Joe Sheehan in Baseball Prospectus noted, the Rays run the bases very well (especially when compared to, say, the Tigers) ... Their percentage is good, their poor runners don't run at all, and for a team with low slugging relative to OBP, it does help them score runs ... Carl Crawford, for instance, checks in at 27/5 on the bases ... Crawford is still slugging a lowly .357 on the season, but has put up 346/372/481 numbers in July ... Crawford also nailed Jeremy Giambi on the basepaths (OK, no great accomplishment there) on Wednesday to save a run ...
* Similarly, Marlon Anderson is 14/1 on the basepaths ... But he's not much of a weapon offensively with his .358 slugging ... He'll be suspended for the Jays series after a long-delayed hearing with Bob Du Puy failed to reduce his suspension for his role in a June 14 brawl with Jason Kendall ...
* Travis Lee is having an extremely hot July at 342/448/544 ... Phillies fans are happy for his recent upturn in productivity, no doubt ...
* Tonight's opponent, Jeremi Gonzalez, has been holding opponents to just a .209 batting average ... But he might be in trouble against the patient and powerful Jays, as he's given up 11 homers and 40 walks in fewer than 80 innings ... He was decent in his last outing at Fenway, although he still walked three in six innings ... He's the most-discussed Devil Ray in terms of trade rumours, but he expressed a strong desire to stay: "I love the coaching staff and I love the manager" ...
* Damian Rolls, defensively versatile but offensively weak (250/297/383), nevertheless hit his first career grand slam in Thursday's Fenway matinee ... Rolls, who regularly plays third, made a sensational diving catch in right to snare a Johnny Damon sinking liner on Thursday ... The Rays haven't been getting good third-base defence from him, though ... When asked to assess his performance since being called up, Rolls replied, "Decent...I don't feel like I've showed them everything I can do" ...
* Reliever Travis Harper came in on Wednesday night with the Rays leading 4-3. Harper described his immediate yielding of a Doug Mirabelli single and a Johnny Damon home run as a "momentum shift" as Boston went on to win 10-4 ... Although Harper gets periodically bombed (four runs in that Boston outing), he's also come through with some needed relief for the Rays: Eleven scoreless outings of two or more innings pitched on the season ...
* Al Levine is another reliever to have his solid year-long stats sullied by the Sox last Wednesday, as he gave up a Trot Nixon grand slam ... Piniella on Wednesday's performance: "Our bullpen just didn't do the job" ...
* Toby Hall has not yet developed into the power-hitting catcher many roto-heads had forecast ... But he has gone deep four times this month, and is hitting .346 over his last six games ...
* In July, his first full month in the majors, 23-year-old infielder Antonio Perez is hitting .315 and getting on base at a .406 clip ... He drove in five in the Rays' Thursday extravaganza ... He had never played third, even in the minors, until injuries forced him there last week ... He's proving to be more than just a bizarre trivia answer -- he was the PTBNL in both the Ken Griffey and the Piniella/Winn deals ... Piniella: "From the first time I saw this kid four years ago in Seattle, he's improved...He's gotten a little more disciplined at the plate, he's learned to hit the ball more straightaway and he's learned to play a few positions" ... Not to overuse the old cliche, but Perez has been described as having "infectious enthusiasm" ...
* Tomorrow's opponent, Victor Zambrano, has a similar profile to Gonzalez ... In just over 112 innings pitched, Zambrano has allowed only 90 hits -- but 15 of them have been home runs, and he's given up 63 walks ... Zambrano has given up four or more walks on nine occasions ...
* Relatively anonymous slugger Aubrey Huff is slugging .531 despite playing in slugger-unfriendly Tropicana Field ... Huff went 3-for-4 with two doubles on Saturday ...
* The "Woonsocket Rocket," Rocco Baldelli, is hitting .375 over his last ten games, with a relatively palatable 2/5 BB/K ... Friday's game in the insane asylum formerly known as Comiskey was delayed by five minutes after one of the seemingly endless supply of White Sox yahoos dumped a full container of beer on Rocco while he was chasing down a double in the left-field gap ... The M.O. was suspicious; a fan narrowly missed Baldelli with a beer earlier in the season -- across town at Wrigley ... Baldelli got his revenge with a homer and four RBI on Saturday, including the game-winning double ... He homered again on Sunday, despite Tampa's getting pummelled by a 9-1 count ... Baldelli has broken the club's rookie extra-base-hit record, previously held by old friend Miguel Cairo ...
* Al Martin is 0 for his last 11 and doesn't start much anymore ...
* 25-year-old lefty Mark Malaska earned his first major-league win on Saturday out of the bullpen ... Fellow 25-year-old outfield prospect Matt Diaz collected his first hit that day ... He's 1-for-9 as a rookie ...
* Jesus Colome has walked one and struck out ten in his last five outings ...
* "All-Star" Lance Carter has given up runs in each of his last three outings ...
* Thursday's starter, Jorge Sosa, had been reasonably promising since his return to the rotation on June 29 ... But he was roughed up for seven runs in 4 2/3 on Friday ... Among the damage was Frank Thomas' 400th longball ...
* That dubious character, Julio Lugo, has played so poorly that many in the Rays front office wonder how he could have possibly made the Astros roster ...
* Number 1 overall pick Delmon Young will not sign in time to play minor-league ball this season, and he's disappointed the Rays apparently cut off 2003 negotiations without telling him directly ... The Rays have started to get contract proposals for 2004 together ...
* Chuck LaMar is weighing trade offers for Gonzalez and Zambrano, the only available players for whom he's received calls ... Joe Kennedy has had such a rough season that interest in the lefty has dried up. In fact, he might be sent to AAA Durham soon ...
* Owner Vince Naimoli has said that LaMar will finish his contract, which runs through 2004 -- squelching Jim Bowden rumours ...
* Ben Grieve's season is over, and so is his career with the Devil Rays, for whom he's been a huge disappointment ... To erase the cause of a blood clot near his right armpit, he needs to get his first rib surgically removed ... Oddly, Ryan Rupe, another ex-Ray, had to have the same operation ... Grieve on the Rays: "...I feel bad for the lack of production I have there...When they traded for me, certainly they expected a player who would produce more than I have. I have no complaints about them" ... This season, Grieve was hitting just .230 and had missed a month with an infected thumb ...
* Remember John McLaren? He's now bench coach for the Rays ...
* Lou Piniella has requested that LaMar hire a sports psychologist for the Rays, as he saw the benefits of one in Seattle ... "It alleviates the pressure a little bit at times and can get their mind thinking positive...If we keep losing, I'm going to hire one for me" ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
7 Crawford
4 Perez
8 Baldelli
9 Huff
2 Hall
3 Lee
DH Diaz
5 Rolls
6 Lugo
vs. RH
7 Crawford
4 Perez
9 Huff
8 Baldelli
3 Lee
5 Rolls
DH Martin
2 Hall/Valentin
6 Lugo
Pitching Probables
Tuesday: RH Gonzalez vs. Escobar
Wednesday: RH Zambrano vs. Lidle
Thursday: RH Sosa vs. Hendrickson
Bullpen Usage
Long: Standridge R, Backe R
Short: Harper R, Malaska L
Setup: Colome R, Levine R
Closer: Carter R
Seriously, the Rays have some hope for the future. Ownership has promised LaMar and Piniella a payroll increase for next season, although they have refused to commit to a figure. Still, that ought to allow Tampa Bay to substantially improve their team, since the salaries of Ben Grieve, Rey Ordonez and Greg Vaughn -- finally -- come off the books. Piniella's happy with his young nucleus, which he recently described as Rocco Baldelli, Aubrey Huff, Carl Crawford, Antonio Perez and Toby Hall. Going forward, there is at least the makings of respectability here.
Back to the present, the Jays face a team this week that's been hitting well, but pitching poorly. It won't be easy, but the Jays have an opportunity to add three more W's this week. (And they duck their inexplicable nemesis, Joe Kennedy.)
On to the Advance Scout!
* Tampa Bay is 11-12 in July, and if they (unthinkably, of course) pull off a sweep at SkyDome, they'll have their first winning month since September of '01 ... "It would be huge to finish July with a winning record," said Rocco Baldelli this weekend ... A lot of luck is involved, though: After going 0-9 in June one-run games, Tampa Bay is 6-2 in July under those circumstances ...
* It seems like the Jays always struggle against Tampa Bay, and they're 2-4 this year ... But believe it or not, the Rays have never taken the season series, largely because of their 14-27 record all-time in Toronto ...
* The Devil Rays recorded a club-record 21 hits in Thursday's 15-9 pounding of the Red Sox ...
* As Joe Sheehan in Baseball Prospectus noted, the Rays run the bases very well (especially when compared to, say, the Tigers) ... Their percentage is good, their poor runners don't run at all, and for a team with low slugging relative to OBP, it does help them score runs ... Carl Crawford, for instance, checks in at 27/5 on the bases ... Crawford is still slugging a lowly .357 on the season, but has put up 346/372/481 numbers in July ... Crawford also nailed Jeremy Giambi on the basepaths (OK, no great accomplishment there) on Wednesday to save a run ...
* Similarly, Marlon Anderson is 14/1 on the basepaths ... But he's not much of a weapon offensively with his .358 slugging ... He'll be suspended for the Jays series after a long-delayed hearing with Bob Du Puy failed to reduce his suspension for his role in a June 14 brawl with Jason Kendall ...
* Travis Lee is having an extremely hot July at 342/448/544 ... Phillies fans are happy for his recent upturn in productivity, no doubt ...
* Tonight's opponent, Jeremi Gonzalez, has been holding opponents to just a .209 batting average ... But he might be in trouble against the patient and powerful Jays, as he's given up 11 homers and 40 walks in fewer than 80 innings ... He was decent in his last outing at Fenway, although he still walked three in six innings ... He's the most-discussed Devil Ray in terms of trade rumours, but he expressed a strong desire to stay: "I love the coaching staff and I love the manager" ...
* Damian Rolls, defensively versatile but offensively weak (250/297/383), nevertheless hit his first career grand slam in Thursday's Fenway matinee ... Rolls, who regularly plays third, made a sensational diving catch in right to snare a Johnny Damon sinking liner on Thursday ... The Rays haven't been getting good third-base defence from him, though ... When asked to assess his performance since being called up, Rolls replied, "Decent...I don't feel like I've showed them everything I can do" ...
* Reliever Travis Harper came in on Wednesday night with the Rays leading 4-3. Harper described his immediate yielding of a Doug Mirabelli single and a Johnny Damon home run as a "momentum shift" as Boston went on to win 10-4 ... Although Harper gets periodically bombed (four runs in that Boston outing), he's also come through with some needed relief for the Rays: Eleven scoreless outings of two or more innings pitched on the season ...
* Al Levine is another reliever to have his solid year-long stats sullied by the Sox last Wednesday, as he gave up a Trot Nixon grand slam ... Piniella on Wednesday's performance: "Our bullpen just didn't do the job" ...
* Toby Hall has not yet developed into the power-hitting catcher many roto-heads had forecast ... But he has gone deep four times this month, and is hitting .346 over his last six games ...
* In July, his first full month in the majors, 23-year-old infielder Antonio Perez is hitting .315 and getting on base at a .406 clip ... He drove in five in the Rays' Thursday extravaganza ... He had never played third, even in the minors, until injuries forced him there last week ... He's proving to be more than just a bizarre trivia answer -- he was the PTBNL in both the Ken Griffey and the Piniella/Winn deals ... Piniella: "From the first time I saw this kid four years ago in Seattle, he's improved...He's gotten a little more disciplined at the plate, he's learned to hit the ball more straightaway and he's learned to play a few positions" ... Not to overuse the old cliche, but Perez has been described as having "infectious enthusiasm" ...
* Tomorrow's opponent, Victor Zambrano, has a similar profile to Gonzalez ... In just over 112 innings pitched, Zambrano has allowed only 90 hits -- but 15 of them have been home runs, and he's given up 63 walks ... Zambrano has given up four or more walks on nine occasions ...
* Relatively anonymous slugger Aubrey Huff is slugging .531 despite playing in slugger-unfriendly Tropicana Field ... Huff went 3-for-4 with two doubles on Saturday ...
* The "Woonsocket Rocket," Rocco Baldelli, is hitting .375 over his last ten games, with a relatively palatable 2/5 BB/K ... Friday's game in the insane asylum formerly known as Comiskey was delayed by five minutes after one of the seemingly endless supply of White Sox yahoos dumped a full container of beer on Rocco while he was chasing down a double in the left-field gap ... The M.O. was suspicious; a fan narrowly missed Baldelli with a beer earlier in the season -- across town at Wrigley ... Baldelli got his revenge with a homer and four RBI on Saturday, including the game-winning double ... He homered again on Sunday, despite Tampa's getting pummelled by a 9-1 count ... Baldelli has broken the club's rookie extra-base-hit record, previously held by old friend Miguel Cairo ...
* Al Martin is 0 for his last 11 and doesn't start much anymore ...
* 25-year-old lefty Mark Malaska earned his first major-league win on Saturday out of the bullpen ... Fellow 25-year-old outfield prospect Matt Diaz collected his first hit that day ... He's 1-for-9 as a rookie ...
* Jesus Colome has walked one and struck out ten in his last five outings ...
* "All-Star" Lance Carter has given up runs in each of his last three outings ...
* Thursday's starter, Jorge Sosa, had been reasonably promising since his return to the rotation on June 29 ... But he was roughed up for seven runs in 4 2/3 on Friday ... Among the damage was Frank Thomas' 400th longball ...
* That dubious character, Julio Lugo, has played so poorly that many in the Rays front office wonder how he could have possibly made the Astros roster ...
* Number 1 overall pick Delmon Young will not sign in time to play minor-league ball this season, and he's disappointed the Rays apparently cut off 2003 negotiations without telling him directly ... The Rays have started to get contract proposals for 2004 together ...
* Chuck LaMar is weighing trade offers for Gonzalez and Zambrano, the only available players for whom he's received calls ... Joe Kennedy has had such a rough season that interest in the lefty has dried up. In fact, he might be sent to AAA Durham soon ...
* Owner Vince Naimoli has said that LaMar will finish his contract, which runs through 2004 -- squelching Jim Bowden rumours ...
* Ben Grieve's season is over, and so is his career with the Devil Rays, for whom he's been a huge disappointment ... To erase the cause of a blood clot near his right armpit, he needs to get his first rib surgically removed ... Oddly, Ryan Rupe, another ex-Ray, had to have the same operation ... Grieve on the Rays: "...I feel bad for the lack of production I have there...When they traded for me, certainly they expected a player who would produce more than I have. I have no complaints about them" ... This season, Grieve was hitting just .230 and had missed a month with an infected thumb ...
* Remember John McLaren? He's now bench coach for the Rays ...
* Lou Piniella has requested that LaMar hire a sports psychologist for the Rays, as he saw the benefits of one in Seattle ... "It alleviates the pressure a little bit at times and can get their mind thinking positive...If we keep losing, I'm going to hire one for me" ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
7 Crawford
4 Perez
8 Baldelli
9 Huff
2 Hall
3 Lee
DH Diaz
5 Rolls
6 Lugo
vs. RH
7 Crawford
4 Perez
9 Huff
8 Baldelli
3 Lee
5 Rolls
DH Martin
2 Hall/Valentin
6 Lugo
Pitching Probables
Tuesday: RH Gonzalez vs. Escobar
Wednesday: RH Zambrano vs. Lidle
Thursday: RH Sosa vs. Hendrickson
Bullpen Usage
Long: Standridge R, Backe R
Short: Harper R, Malaska L
Setup: Colome R, Levine R
Closer: Carter R
